The Evangelical Lutheran Church in America has elected its first African American presiding bishop to succeed the denomination’s first female head.
The Rev. Yehiel Curry, bishop of the Metropolitan Chicago Synod, was elected to a six-year term as presiding bishop on Wednesday at the 2025 ELCA Churchwide Assembly, held in Phoenix, Arizona.
Curry won on the fifth ballot, receiving 562 of the 799 votes cast. The Rev. Kevin Strickland, bishop of the ELCA Southeastern Synod, received 237 of the votes cast.
Get Our Latest News for FREE
Subscribe to get daily/weekly email with the top stories (plus special offers!) from The Christian Post. Be the first to know.
In remarks given shortly after his election, Curry told those gathered about his initial hesitation to enter ministry work, having previously been a public school teacher.
“Perhaps I’m out there in one of you,” Curry said. “I never saw myself as good enough, so for two years, I said no. I finally said yes. When I said yes, your support, this church’s support, of that ministry meant everything.”
“So if you want to know what your benevolence dollars look like, it looks like me, and I want to say thank you. Thank you for your investment.”
Curry is scheduled to be installed as presiding bishop of the theologically progressive mainline denomination in October.
The ELCA Metropolitan Chicago Synod posted a statement on Thursday celebrating the election of Curry, calling for prayers amid “this time of celebration and transition.”
“We are grateful for his leadership and ask you to join us as we pray for Bishop Curry, this synod, and the whole church during this time of transition,” the synod stated.
“When Bishop Curry moves into his new role, we will receive an interim bishop by appointment. We will also initiate a bishop pre-identification process aligned with our governing documents and proceed with a bishop election at next year’s synod assembly.”
Born and raised in Chicago, Curry earned a Bachelor of Arts from Lewis University of Romeoville, Illinois, in 1995, and a Master of Divinity from the Lutheran School of Theology at Chicago in 2013.
Curry was pastor of Shekinah Chapel Lutheran Church of Riverdale, Illinois, from 2013 until 2019, when he was elected bishop of the Chicago Synod.
Curry is married and has three daughters.
In an interview with Living Lutheran in 2019, Curry said he did not become a Lutheran until his adult years, when he was invited by a friend to attend worship at an ELCA-affiliated camp.
“I used to say I would have never intentionally joined a Lutheran church,” Curry told the outlet at the time. “But I say it this way to my community: ‘I know where the gold is hidden: the gold is hidden in the Lutheran church.'”
“The more my network and friends and family learned about the tenets of Lutheranism, the more we started falling in love.”
Curry will succeed the Rev. Elizabeth Eaton, who was elected in 2013 as the first female presiding bishop. She opted not to seek reelection after serving two terms.
